If you have been looking for Non US - Equity funds, it would not be wise to start your search with American Funds EuroPacific Growth F (AEGFX Quick QuoteAEGFX - Free Report) . AEGFX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

AEGFX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.

History of Fund/Manager

AEGFX is a part of the American Funds family of funds, a company based out of Los Angeles, CA. Since American Funds EuroPacific Growth F made its debut in April of 1984, AEGFX has garnered more than $2.39 billion in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. AEGFX has a 5-year annualized total return of 10.06% and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 8.34%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, AEGFX's standard deviation comes in at 18.89%, compared to the category average of 14.22%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 15.96% compared to the category average of 12.24%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 0.93, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. AEGFX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.43, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, AEGFX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.85% compared to the category average of 1.20%. So, AEGFX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $250, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $50.

Bottom Line

Overall, American Funds EuroPacific Growth F ( AEGFX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on Non US - Equity funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare AEGFX to its peers as well for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.